See this story for details of the new NHS mileage rates:

http://www.networks.nhs.uk/news.php?nid=2300

All the rates have increased. Cycle mileage (which is my bugbear, I admit!) has gone up from a derisory 6.2p/mile to an almost-as-bad 10p/mile. This is still only half of the Government-set tax limit which many NHS Trusts and other employers pay.

I think this is a missed opportunity to really promote sustainable transport over car use. Anyone else got any views?

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As usual the NHS is shooting itself in the foot by being miserly with cyclists. This is a double missed opportunity because Trusts now have an obligation to reduce their Carbon Footprint and this includes travel on Trust business . By not increasing the milage allowance on bicycle travel to a level that compares with cars it is giving people a financial incentive to use their cars and leave their bikes at home, so no Carbon saving will happen. The second part of this double whammy is that those altruistic individuals who choose to cycle anyway will probably not bother to fill in claim forms for such a miserably small ammount and although a Carbon Reduction has occured by cycling, as there will be no record of it, the Trust cannot claim it towards its carbon reduction target.
The NHS should set the bicycle mileage allowance to be equal to that of the small car. This will cost nothing extra to the trust and give an incentive to staff to use their bicycles and fill in forms to record this use. This will help meet Carbon Reduction targets, give trusts a healthier workforce and reduce the Car Parking headache that almost every Trust in the country is spending precious resources in trying to address.

I agree with everything you say Christopher.
I suggest we all respond to the draft NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy and state that the DH needs to be taken a much stronger lead nationally. If its left to individual trusts to take the initiative progress will be slow if DH had just changed it to 20p it would have saved us a lot of hassle having to change at an individual trust level

Well well well it seems that 20p a mile is okay for all employees of the DH but not NHS employees see this below
Health
Car AllowancesAll Written Answers on 16 Jul 2008
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Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield, Conservative) | Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mileage allowance is provided to each category of entitled worker by (a) his Department and (b) the NHS; and if he will make a statement.
Click on the platypus!


Ann Keen (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Health Services), Department of Health; Brentford & Isleworth, Labour) | Hansard source

The Department's staff who use their own motor vehicle and have insured it for business use are entitled to claim 40p per mile for the first 4,000 miles in the tax year (starting 6 April 2008) and 25p per mile for every subsequent mile claimed. If staff use their vehicles to carry official passengers they can claim an additional 4p per mile for the first passenger carried and 2p per mile for each subsequent passenger. The passengers are not entitled to claim any mileage allowance.

Where staff use a motorcycle (again having insured it for business use) they are entitled to claim 24p per mile. Staff who use a bicycle to undertake official travel are entitled to claim 20p per mile.

These rates apply to all departmental staff irrespective of grade.

For national health service staff there are recently agreed new rates for regular and standard user rates. These are available on the NHS Employers website at:

http://www.nhsemployers.org/pay-con...itions-3179.cfm

An opportunity missed!

Never mind matching the lowest mileage rate for cars, why not pay a higher rate to cyclists? This will have the twofold benefit of acting as an incentive and being an easy/affordable win.

Cyclists tend not to cover the huge distances that motorists do, nor do cyclists submit expense claims for parking fees.

Many hospitals now make significant income from charging for parking, perhaps this is one reason why they're not so quick in encouraging bicycle use, encourage the bicycle lose a paying carpark user.

Should we start a petition to this end on the PMs petition site?

Given the membership of Spokes, we could have a short timeframe with the aim of getting the minimum 200 signatures (to force a response from Gordon) within a months deadline.

It seems that a press release would be a good start to any campaign and I would encourage Mike to go ahead with this asap

I think that a press release would be a good idea and may help move things along.

Some of you may be interested in the Healthy Working Lives Web site with an interesting case study about cycling.

http://www.healthyworkinglives.com/...dies/smith.aspx

I would be more than happy to see this information in the national press and if Mike is able to do it, then thank you.